Sunday, July 22, 2012 5:27:07 AM
Under A Blood Red Sky
By Andrew Cohen
Jul 21 2012, 12:53 PM ET
The Internet says it is 4840 days and 19.3 miles from Columbine High School, the scene of Colorado's last famous massacre [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbine_high_school/index.html ], to the Century Aurora 16 movie theater, the scene of its latest one. If I look today out to the west, I can remember the stricken faces of the parents on April 20, 1999 as they searched local hospitals for their children. And when I looked Friday out to the east I could see the helicopters going back and forth from Aurora's killing field. The faces are different. The names are changed. The candle flames will flicker from other venues in and around Denver. But the grief and the shock and the anger and the senselessness are eternal.
There is no direct cosmic or karmic line between the Columbine shootings, which left 13 dead and 21 wounded, and Friday's mass shooting at a premiere of a Batman movie, which left 12 dead and 58 wounded or injured. This is because the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 forever changed the way our generation copes with mass murder. There is the before. And there is the after. Many people noticed Friday how well the local emergency responders and hospital spokespeople handled their grim duties. That's because they've all been through it before. Over and over again. And so have the rest of us. We are un-drafted veterans of the rituals of sudden death. It's an American thing.
The Atlantic's James Fallows already has said it best [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-certainty-of-more-shootings/260133/ ]: for those of us not directly involved in Friday's mass murder, perhaps the most distressing thing to contemplate today is the realization that we are virtually powerless to prevent it from happening again, soon, somewhere, despite all the hand-wringing and soul-searching that now routinely accompanies [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-template-of-our-grief/260110/ ] these national tragedies. Or, as The New Republic's Timothy Noah put it [ http://www.tnr.com/blogs/timothy-noah ], America feels terribly sorry for the dead and the wounded caused by gun violence. But not sorry enough to do anything meaningful about it. Don't just think Jared Loughner. Think Jason Coday [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/in-alaska-a-showdown-of-lawyers-guns-and-bush-era-firearms-law/253941/ ], too.
This sad fact shrouds mournful days like Friday with a sheen of phoniness. The politicians? They quickly stopped campaigning, said all the right things, and called off the attack ads on television. Evidently it is considered more unseemly to campaign in the hours following a national tragedy than it is for elected officials to fail to limit the scope of such tragedies in the first place. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is right; fly the flags at half-staff, bow your heads in a moment of silence, and then have the courage to convene a meeting on Capitol Hill to determine whether people like James Holmes ought to be allowed to buy tear gas grenades, body armor, and assault weapons.
THE FUTURE
But no one called for such a meeting after the Aurora shooting. No one dare. It is an election year and the National Rifle Association already has flexed [ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/why-the-aurora-shooting-wont-affect-gun-laws/260134/ ] its muscle. Sen Mark. Udall [ http://www.markudall.senate.gov/ ] (D-Colorado), when asked late Friday if there were some sort of legislation that might be in order, begged off. No wonder. When it comes to state gun control laws, one local gun-rights advocate told The New York Times, "we're at a reasonably well-settled point... the legislature is not that interested in opening it up again." I heard no official dissent from this. "This is a safe city in a safe state in a safe country," said [ http://www.9news.com/video/1745571517001/1/RAW-VIDEO-Gov-Hickenlooper-on-Aurora-shooting ] Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, without any evident trace of irony.
In Colorado, this fantasy persists even after the Columbine massacre (and will persist now, just you watch). Even that day of horror in 1999-- when our children murdered our children and a teacher in our public school-- did not meaningfully reverse the state's traditional affection for gun rights. The New York Times Saturday offered this [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/colorado-gun-laws-remain-lax-despite-changes-after-columbine.html?_r=1&hp ] context and perspective:
As a mountain state, Colorado has a history of broad support for Second Amendment rights. But in the years since the Columbine tragedy, the state's lawmakers and voters passed some gun restrictions, including requirements governing the sale of firearms at gun shows, a law regulating people's ability to carry concealed weapons and legislation banning "straw purchases" of weapons for people who would not qualify to buy them legitimately...
Despite the changes over the past 13 years, Colorado law still prohibits local governments from restricting gun rights in several significant ways. Moreover, gun rights organizations have successfully fought other efforts to restrict access to guns, including blocking a University of Colorado rule prohibiting concealed weapons on campus.
People in Colorado are allowed to carry firearms in a vehicle, loaded or unloaded, as long as the gun is intended for lawful uses like personal protection or protecting property. Carrying a concealed weapon requires a permit, but Colorado is among those states whose rules on permits are relatively lax, said Heather Morton of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
So while the senator and governor were muted Friday, gun rights advocates, in and out of government, proclaimed (before the bodies were even moved) that one proper way to combat gun violence in movie theaters is to permit more people to bring guns into movie theaters [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/20/could_an_armed_person_have_stopped_the_aurora_shooting_a_second_opinion_.html ]. "If this went down in Texas or Arizona," a firearms safety trainer told [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/20/could_an_armed_person_have_stopped_the_aurora_shooting_a_second_opinion_.html ] Slate's Dave Weigel on Friday, "he would have died quick." Maybe not. "From murders to suicides," the Arizona Republic [ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/27/20110127arizona-gun-death-rate-nations-worst.html ] reported last year, "Arizona is consistently among the most deadly states in the nation for gun violence." Texas is better but still above the national average. Check out this chart [ http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa/texas-firearms-death-rate ].
Trying to make meaning of the breadth of modern gun violence, trying to buck up its sad readership, and trying most of all not to say anything too pointed at this delicate hour, here's how The Denver Post put it Saturday in a house editorial [ http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_21120516 ]:
Some observers are probably going to wonder whether Colorado is especially prone to incubate murderous madmen -- for lack of a better description -- who seek out innocent targets in public venues given the array of incidents in recent years. Since 2006 alone, we've seen a 53-year-old drifter take six female students hostage at Platte Canyon High School, killing one before he killed himself; a troubled 24-year-old shoot two parishioners at New Life Church in Colorado Springs after having killed two other people the night before at a training center for Christian missionaries in Arvada; and a 32-year-old open fire on students at Dear Creek middle school in Jefferson County before seventh-grade math teacher David Benke tackled and subdued him.
Alas, there is nothing special about Colorado. In fact, it's almost by definition average. It ranks 29th on the list of states affected by firearm deaths. Besides, these sorts of mass shootings happen everywhere in America. We are all Columbine. We are all Paducah. We are all Virginia Tech. We are all Tucson. We are all killing each other, and ourselves, at an astonishing rate, with a breathtaking array of firearms. I have a question or two: Are we supposed to feel better or feel worse because the alleged Aurora shooter, James Holmes, lawfully purchased all of his weapons and armor? And where in the Second Amendment does it ban the sale of tear gas grenades?
THE PAST
Since 9/11, U.S. officials have steered America's vast law enforcement apparatus around to the idea that it is more important to prevent crimes from occurring than it is to punish criminals for committing those crimes; that the potential loss of life is too great a price to pay for a reactive approach to terror crime. That's why we are dropping missiles on the heads of terror suspects abroad, why we tortured men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and why we can't close Guantanamo Bay. This shift in focus-- from punishment to prevention, from the reactive to the proactive-- has sorely tested the Constitution. And it explains virtually every official act in the war on terror since the Twin Towers fell.
Yet, evidently, its a concept that has no bearing on the gun debate. Since 9/11, the Brady Campaign tells us, there have been an estimated 334,168 gun deaths* in the United States, a figure that includes homicides, suicides, and unintentional shooting deaths. The total is 100 times larger than the toll of September 11, 2001. Each year, since that day, approximately 30,000 people have been killed [ http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/Facts/Gun_Death_and_Injury_Stat_Sheet_2008__2009_FINAL.pdf ] by firearms in America. Yet there has been no cry for state or federal policies of prevention over punishment, no loud call for a proactive rather than a reactive approach to gun violence. Imagine how different America would be today if those figures tolled for acts of terrorism instead of acts of gun violence.
Since September 11, 2001, we have had not one [ http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZS.html/ ] but two [ http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf ] United States Supreme Court rulings recognizing an individual constitutional right to bear arms. Both of these rulings, crafted by the Court's conservative majority, were nonetheless careful to contemplate the possibility of reasonable gun regulation. But that assumes the political will to enact and implement such regulation-- and also to enforce existing gun regulations in an efficient and aggressive way. How many lives would be spared if law enforcement officials enforced existing gun laws as aggressively as they pursue the war on terror? We'll never know the answer to that question, will we. Such enforcement will never happen.
What did happen early Friday morning was not an act of God. It was not His will that all those people should die or be injured. Nor was it something the Second Amendment requires, commands or ordains. It was, instead, an act of man, a man, who was allowed by law to arm himself more heavily than the police. Local television is inundated this weekend with stories of the victims, and the survivors, and the community's pain. But that's just one part of the tragedy that accompanies this story. The other is the realization that in the day and a half since the Aurora massacre another 100 or so people have been shot to death in America. The land of the free. The home of the brave.
*We initially put this figure at 343,882 based upon information from the Brady Campaign, which later revised the figure.
Copyright © 2012 by The Atlantic Monthly Group (emphasis in original)
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/under-a-blood-red-sky/260147/ [with comments]
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Police: Buyers of guns for cartel insisted their children be present at sale
By Steven Kreytak | Thursday, July 19, 2012, 11:57 AM
Austin police had been on the cusp of busting three people they suspected of trafficking machine guns to the Zetas drug cartel last week when the presence of two children had them preparing to call the whole thing off, a detective testified in federal court today.
Through a cooperating informant posing as a gun seller and a man brokering the deal, police had been negotiating for weeks to complete the sale of fully automatic AK-47 rifles to a San Antonio couple with cartel connections, said Detective Jesse Prado.
But when the couple — Jorge Joaquin Garcia, 26, and Mary Louise Siller, 31 — showed up to a pre-buy meeting at a South Austin Fiesta supermarket parking lot on July 12, they not only had the cash to complete the sale, they had their daughters, ages 13 and 9, in the back seat, Prado said.
Siller, “stated to the (cooperating informant) that she had done this in the past, that the children knew what was going on,” Prado said. “She was insistent that they were going to be at the transaction.”
“We were not going to do this transaction with children involved,” Prado said.
Ultimately, the cooperating informant, who was not identified in court or in court filings, convinced Siller to stay with the children at a nearby Taco Bell while her husband and the broker completed the sale of five AK-47s for $1,500 each at another location, Prado said.
After the sale, the Austin SWAT team moved in to safely secure the weapons and arrest Garcia and the broker, Juan Carillo-Gallegos, 29. Siller was arrested by officers moments later and the children have been turned over to Child Protective Services, Prado said.
The three are charged in federal court with transfer or possession of a machine gun and criminal conspiracy. Siller was in court today asking for her release on bond pending trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane denied that request, stating that she poses a threat to the community. The other two defendants are being jailed pending future detention hearings.
Prado testified that after her arrest, Siller told detectives that a few years ago she had been recruited to work for the cartel after she had moved to Mexico during a temporary split from her husband.
A U.S. citizen who was fluent in Spanish and English, she would have been valuable to the group as a smuggler, Prado said. Her initial job was “burning cars” - when someone drives cars back and forth across the border daily to become familiar to border guards and to appear to have legitimate reasons for the frequent crossings, Prado said.
The cartel members believe that the car eventually becomes less likely to be searched and they ultimately use it to smuggle people and drugs into the United States and guns back into Mexico, Prado said.
Prado said that the Zetas have been in a war with members of the Gulf Cartel for control of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and have been trying to obtain automatic weapons and grenades to use in that war.
He said that Siller told him she and her husband would acquire the guns in places like Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.
He said that Siller did not disclose how much she made, only that “the money came easy.”
Prado said that about a month ago Austin police detectives learned through the cooperating informant that he knew of a woman who wanted to buy fully automatic guns for the cartel.
Police asked the informant to negotiate a sale. Eventually the informant had been told by Carillo-Gallegos that the cartel-connected buyers wanted to buy 50 guns for a total of $22,500, Prado said.
Eventually, the buyers could only get enough money for five guns, Prado said.
Prado said the Zetas often use families with children as cover for their criminal transactions and it’s a process sometimes used by other drug dealers in the United States. He said detectives have strict prohibitions about staging deals when children are involved, especially in gun transactions.
“The risk of violence already with the Zeta cartel is very high,” he said. “Now that we’re doing a gun deal you know that they are going to be armed. It would take just a split-second to have a full magazine and jam it into the gun and all of the sudden you are faced with a very high-powered weapon at you.”
Copyright © 2012 Statesman.com
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2012/07/19/police_buyers_of_guns_for_cart.html [with comments]
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Obama, Romney views toward gun rights have evolved
By CONNIE CASS | Associated Press – Fri, Jul 20, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney both have softened their positions on gun restrictions over the years. As they expressed shock and sorrow over the bloodshed at a Colorado movie theater, neither suggested that tougher gun control could make a difference, a notion that has faded from political debate.
Romney signed a ban on assault weapons as Massachusetts governor. But as the presumptive Republican nominee, he now bills himself as the candidate who will protect gun owners' rights.
Obama called for reinstating the federal ban on assault weapons during his 2008 presidential campaign. But since his election he hasn't tried to get that done or pushed other gun control proposals, either.
Neither man is likely to raise gun control as a campaign issue — beyond Romney's insistence that an Obama presidency is bad for gun owners. Both say they'll protect the Second Amendment right to bear arms. A look at the evolution of their positions and where they stand on guns:
OBAMA
1997-2004: As an Illinois state senator, Obama supports banning all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter state restrictions generally on firearms, including a failed effort to limit handgun purchases to one per month.
2005: In the U.S. Senate, Obama votes against protecting firearms makers and dealers from lawsuits over misuse of their products by others. The bill is signed into law by President George W. Bush.
2008: During his first presidential campaign, Obama supports a return to the federal ban on assault weapons, which began during the Clinton administration and expired under Bush. He also endorses requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. The National Rifle Association attacks him as an anti-gun zealot — a stand the group continues to take.
April 2008: Obama is criticized for elitism after sounding dismissive of gun owners in a talk to campaign donors. He said voters in struggling small towns in Middle America "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" to explain their frustrations.
September 2008: Obama seeks to reassure gun owners: "I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. ... There are some common-sense gun safety laws that I believe in. But I am not going to take your guns away." Nonetheless, gun sales go up when Obama wins, apparently because of fear that new restrictions are imminent under his administration.
2009: As president, Obama signs legislation allowing people to carry concealed weapons in the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and other national parks and wildlife refuges and another measure that lets people carry guns in their checked bags on Amtrak trains.
2010: The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives Obama a grade of "F'' for failing to push even the gun restrictions he supported while campaigning.
2011: Obama says the shooting that severely wounded then-Rep. Gabriel Giffords, D-Ariz., and killed six people should lead to "a new discussion of how we can keep America safe for all our people." He calls for "sound and effective steps" to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including strengthening background checks on gun buyers. But he's short on specifics. The administration hasn't proposed any new gun initiatives since then.
March 2012: Obama calls the fatal shooting of black teenager Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida "a tragedy," saying Americans should do some soul-searching and "examine the laws" to figure out why it happened. He hasn't called for any legal changes in response to the case, which mostly brought attention to some states' "stand your ground" laws making it easier for a shooter to claim self-defense. Indeed, most gun regulations are imposed by states. The primary federal law is the Brady law requiring background checks on firearms purchasers.
July 20: Obama says he's heartbroken by the Aurora, Colo., movie theater massacre and calls on the country to unite in prayer for the victims. "If there's anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is very fragile, our time here is limited and it is precious."
Asked whether the shooting should prompt a new review of gun laws, White House spokesman Jay Carney declines to comment beyond reiterating Obama's existing stance in support of "common-sense measures that protect Second Amendment rights of Americans, while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing law do not get them."
ROMNEY
1994: In his unsuccessful challenge to liberal Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Romney sounds moderate on guns, supporting an assault weapons ban and insisting: "I don't line up with the NRA."
2002: Running for governor of Massachusetts, Romney says he supports and will protect the state's "tough gun laws." The NRA gives his Democratic opponent a higher rating on gun-rights issues and makes no endorsement in the race.
2003: As governor, Romney upsets gun owners by signing a law that quadruples the state's gun-licensing fee — from $25 to $100 — as part of a widespread effort to eliminate the budget deficit.
2004: Romney signs a Massachusetts ban on assault weapons. He mollifies many gun-rights advocates by coupling it with looser rules on gun licenses and an extension of the duration of licenses, reducing the effect of the earlier fee increase.
2005: Declares May 7 as "Right to Bear Arms Day" in Massachusetts.
2006: As he prepares for his first presidential run, Romney becomes a lifetime NRA member.
2007: While campaigning, Romney declares he sometimes hunts "small varmints" — a comment ridiculed by some as an awkward attempt to pander to pro-gun voters.
2008: In a Republican primary debate, Romney says he would have signed the federal assault weapons ban if it came to his desk as president, but he opposes any new gun legislation.
2011: Making his second presidential bid, Romney's campaigns on a promise to protect and promote the Second Amendment.
2012: Romney tells gun owners that Obama wants to erode their rights. "We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners," Romney told the National Rifle Association's annual convention. "President Obama has not. I will."
July 20: Like Obama, Romney avoids talking politics on the day of the Aurora shooting. He says Americans are coming together in their sorrow: "There is something we can do. We can offer comfort to someone near us who is suffering or heavy laden, and we can mourn with those who mourn in Colorado."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-romney-views-toward-gun-rights-evolved-212955234.html [with comments]
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Dark Night Rising Gunman Armed with High-Powered Assault Rifle
July 20, 2012 - Associated Press
AURORA, Colo. – The suspect in the horrific shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater during the premier of "The Dark Night Rises" was armed with a high capacity ammunition clip in an assault rifle, had painted his hair red and called himself the Joker — the villain from the Batman movies.
A federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said suspected shooter James Holmes had a drum-style clip in an AR-15 assault rifle used in the attack at a movie theater in Denver suburb Aurora, Colo.
[...]
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/20/dark-night-rising-gunman-armed-with-high-power-assault-rifle/
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Religious leaders call for prayer and tighter gun control after Colorado shooting
By Daniel Burke | Religion News Service, Published: July 20, 2012
President Obama and his likely GOP challenger Mitt Romney called for prayers and reflection after a deadly shooting at a Colorado movie theater, while liberal religious leaders called for stricter gun control laws.
Police have identified James Holmes, 24, as the man who opened fire at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 and wounding 59 others in Aurora, Colo.
President Obama cut short his campaign trip in Florida, instead delivering a brief address in Fort Myers. “There are going to be other days for politics,” Obama said. “This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection.”
Obama touched on the fragility of life, his concerns as the father of two young daughters, and urged Americans to “spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that God has given us.”
“Our time here is limited and it is precious,” Obama said. “And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another.”
Romney also curtailed campaign events, delivering brief remarks at what was to be a rally in Bow, N.H.
“This morning Colorado lost youthful voices which would have brightened their homes, enriched their schools and brought joy to their families. Our prayer is that the Comforter might bring the peace to their souls that surpasses their understanding.”
Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, Romney said, “Blessed be God ... who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.”
Religious leaders urged wounded victims and relatives of the deceased to put their faith in a higher power.
“As Catholic bishops, we ‘weep with those who weep,’ said Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley of Denver, citing, like Romney, the Apostle Paul.
“But in Aurora, which means ‘the dawn, the sun rose this morning,” the bishops continued. “In a city whose name evokes the light, people of hope know that the darkness may be overcome.”
The Catholic bishops also prayed for the perpetrator of the shooting, and for his conversion. “Evil ruled his heart last night,” said Aquila and Conley in a statement. “Only Jesus Christ can overcome the darkness of such evil.”
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team quickly sent chaplains to the scene in Aurora, as they have after mass killings in Tucson, Ariz. in 2011 and at Virginia Tech University in 2007.
“We will be there to offer emotional and spiritual care, and the hope and compassion of Jesus Christ, in the aftermath,” said team director Jack Munday in a statement.
Other religious leaders argued that the U.S. needs tougher gun control laws. Holmes had four guns, including an assault rifle, according to law enforcement authorities.
Kathryn Mary Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches, called on elected officials to “seek policies that will foster greater peace in our communities and throughout this country.”
The NCC, which represents about 10,000 congregations — most from mainline Protestant, historically African-American and Orthodox traditions — passed a resolution on ending gun violence in 2010.
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, echoed the NCC’s call, noting that the shooting occurred in the same state as the 1999 Columbine High School attack.
“Although details about this gunman and shooting are still coming to light, this horror reinforces the need to ensure that common-sense gun control laws are in place to help reduce such acts of violence,” Saperstein said.
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and culture editor at America magazine, tweeted on Friday morning: “Gun control is a pro-life issue. ... Pray for the families of the victims and for an end to the taking of life by senseless violence.”
Later Friday, the popular spiritual author Anne Lamott tweeted, “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Is no one going to say that these massacres (wouldn’t) happen if the crazy men had to use bats or hammers?”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on the other hand, argued that the shooting occurred because Americans have become unmoored from their moral and religious foundations.
“You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place,” Gohmert said on “Istook Live!”, a broadcast of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The Texas congressman also suggested that Americans have lost the “protective hand” of God because school prayer is not allowed at public schools. “Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around,” Gohmert said.
“Rep. Louis Gohmert truly tortures logic when he concludes that this violence had something to do with perceived attacks on majority faith in America,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.
“At a time when families are mourning in the wake of this tragedy, Gohmert used it as an opportunity to push a religious agenda,” Speckhardt said.
The Rev. Welton Gaddy, Interfaith Alliance president, called on Americans to unite “regardless of faith or belief” to comfort the victims and the families.
“As I have said after past incidents, we as a nation need to be done forever with the thought that killing settles anything,” Gaddy said.
Copyright 2012 Religion News Service LLC
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/religious-leaders-call-for-prayer-and-tighter-gun-control-after-colorado-shooting/2012/07/20/gJQAwMRcyW_story.html [with comments]
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NRA Tweet: Pro-Gun Group Sends Out Unfortunate Message After Aurora Shooting (UPDATED)
By Ethan Klapper
Posted: 07/20/2012 12:18 pm Updated: 07/20/2012 2:42 pm
A Twitter account belonging to a journal associated with the National Rifle Association sent out an unfortunate tweet on Friday morning, just hours after a tragic shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
At 9:20 a.m. EDT, the @NRA_Rifleman account, which describes itself as "an official journal of the National Rifle Association," tweeted:
American Rifleman
@NRA_Rifleman
Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?
20 Jul 12
Alex Fitzpatrick, a reporter for the blog Mashable, called the NRA and tweeted that a "press contact didn't seem to be aware of @NRA_Rifleman tweet."
The tweet was up for more than two hours, before it was deleted around noon.
It should be noted that the tweet came from the social media management software HootSuite, which allows the pre-scheduling of tweets in 5 minute intervals. Because this tweet was tweeted at 9:20 a.m., it is possible that it was scheduled hours in advance, before the shooting occurred.
CBS Denver is reporting that 13 people were killed in the shooting, which took place during a midnight screening of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. A suspect, James Holmes, is in custody.
Click here for the latest updates on the Colorado shooting.
UPDATE: In a statement to CNN, an NRA spokesman said, "A single individual, unaware of events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context."
The @NRA_Rifleman account was later deleted.
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/nra-tweet_n_1689862.html [with embedded links, and comments]
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The Dream Of Maximum Guns
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 21 2012, 10:04 AM ET
I don't have too much to say about yesterday's events, except to note that the victims are very much in my thoughts, and in my heart.
Reading through the Times coverage this morning, however, I caught this [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/shooting-at-colorado-theater-showing-batman-movie.html ]:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who has waged a national campaign for stricter gun laws, offered a political challenge. "Maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it," Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio program, "because this is obviously a problem across the country."
Luke O'Dell of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a Colorado group on the other side of the debate over gun control, took a nearly opposite view. "Potentially, if there had been a law-abiding citizen who had been able to carry in the theater, it's possible the death toll would have been less." Some survivors thought at first they were witnessing a promotional stunt.
The gunman, wearing what Aurora Police Department officials described as nearly head-to-toe "ballistic gear," including a throat protector and leggings, plus a gas mask and a long black coat, came in through a parking lot exit door near the screen of Theater 9.
It's quite clear that neither Obama nor Romney will be proposing any kind of legislation in this instance [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aurora-colo-shooting-unlikely-to-change-gun-laws-both-sides-say/2012/07/20/gJQAdrO2yW_story.html ]. The national Democratic party has basically fled the field, in terms of gun control--modest or otherwise. I think this is about right:
"Nothing happened when a congresswoman was shot in the head," said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a centrist think tank in Washington. "Nothing happens when dozens of kids are shot in a movie theater. It's a terrible truth, but it is the truth nonetheless."
It's worth thinking about what kind of legislation this would even be, and what it would be designed to prevent. But what interests me is the opposing logic--that had there been someone in the crowd who was armed this tragedy could have been lessened the body-count. I'm not, by any means, anti-self-defense. I pretty much believe that when you initiate violence, you have put your life on the roulette table and whatever happens is on you.
But there's something fantastical about O'Dell's argument, when you carry it out. It's worth considering the wisdom of waging a shoot-out in a crowded theater with a mad-man in body-armor. More than that, we should consider the import of the the argument's implication--a fully, and heavily, armed citizenry. If we all are going to agree to be armed, surely I don't want my arms to be inferior to the arms of my potential adversaries--a category including virtually any other citizen. The Aurora shooter was evidently in full body-armor. I need to upgrade to hand-grenades. And so we arrive at a kind of personal arms race.
And we arrive at a world with minimal trust in the state's ability to deploy violence on our behalf--a distrust of the authorities whom we pay to protect us, a cynicism which says those authorities are beyond reform, and that only through this personal arms race, can a person sleep at night.
And too we are left with the deeply held belief that, somehow, we can always outgun those who would do us harm, or at least our end can come at the place of our choosing. Now we are cousined to immortality. Now we are chin-level with our various Gods.
It's worth considering what we mean by a safer society, and whether it can be secured through a cold war of all against all. It's worth asking if the world really needs more George Zimmermans.
Copyright © 2012 by The Atlantic Monthly Group
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-dream-of-maximum-guns/260151/ [with comments]
===
Florida man killed in police mix-up
By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Florida | Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:23pm EDT
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The death of a man shot inside his home, by a sheriff's deputy who went to the wrong apartment looking for a criminal suspect, has sparked protests this week over police procedures in the central Florida city of Leesburg.
Andrew "Drew" Scott, 26, a pizza delivery driver, was shot dead at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday when deputies knocked on his apartment door without identifying themselves as law enforcement officers. Scott opened his door holding a gun, according to Lake County Sheriff spokesman Lieutenant John Herrell.
The Lake County Sheriff has no policy requiring deputies to announce themselves, Herrell told Reuters.
Prominent Orlando lawyer Mark Nejame, who has been hired by Scott's family, told Reuters on Friday that lack of policy puts gun-owning homeowners like Scott in a life-threatening dilemma.
"If they go to the door and it's a criminal, fine. But if it turns out in the game of Russian roulette that it's a law enforcement officer, you're dead," Nejame said.
Nejame said Scott acted reasonably and legally in arming himself while trying to determine who was banging on his door in the middle of the night.
Brian Evey, manager of a pizza store where Scott worked in Leesburg, 45 miles northwest of Orlando, scheduled a candlelight vigil for Saturday night in front of Scott's apartment complex, and marched with several dozen protesters earlier in the week in front of the sheriff's office.
"This could happen to anybody. We do not want this to happen again," Evey said.
Kyan Ware, a former prosecutor and lawyer for the Florida Civil Rights Association which is conducting its own investigation, on Friday called the shooting "a tapestry of ineptitude" in which poorly trained deputies operating with little information "acted on a hunch that was wrong, that was miscalculated and ultimately resulted in an innocent person's death."
At the time of the shooting, several deputies were looking for Jonathon Brown, 31, who was involved in a beating 37 minutes earlier in a different neighborhood and fled the scene on a motorcycle, according to Brown's arrest affidavit. Deputies found Brown's motorcycle, still hot, parked directly in front of Scott's apartment although he was later located in an adjacent apartment building, Herrell said.
"When the person came to the door, the door was flung open and the occupant in that apartment pointed a gun at the deputy's face ... At that point, the deputy took the action he took, obviously he was in fear for his life, and at that point he shot Mr. Scott," Herrell said.
Herrell said he did not know why deputies chose not to identify themselves as they knocked on Scott's door, but that decision was within the deputies' discretion.
Ware said the deputy who shot Scott had witnessed two other Lake County deputies shoot a suspect four days earlier, and should have been placed on desk duty to recover from the trauma.
Evey said he hopes to get more people involved in further protests until the sheriff's department makes changes to shore up public safety.
"This guy lit up every room that he was in. He was amazing. We want the whole country to know who this guy is," Evey said of Scott.
(Editing by David Adams and Mohammad Zargham)
Copyright 2012 Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-florida-protest-idUSBRE86J1DY20120720 [with comments]
===
Rupert Murdoch Tweets Support For Gun Control
Posted: 07/21/2012 11:44 pm Updated: 07/21/2012 11:47 pm
Media baron Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter Saturday evening to express his support for gun-control measures in the wake of the Aurora, CO shooting that killed 12 people on Friday:
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch
We have to do something about gun controls. Police license okay for hunting rifle or pistol for anyone without crim or pscho record. No more
July 22, 2012 1:36 am via Twitter for iPad
The words may come as a surprise to observers, since Murdoch's Fox News traditionally espouses a pro-gun viewpoint.
In the aftermath of the massacre, during which suspect James Holmes allegedly used a range of firearms [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/james-holmes-aurora-shooting_n_1691191.html ], the issue of gun control has re-emerged into the national spotlight. But while a small number of political leaders, like New York City's Michael Bloomberg [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/michael-bloomberg-nyc-mayor-reacts-colorado-shooting_n_1689211.html ] and New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/gun-control-legislation-lautenberg_n_1691093.html ] have vocalized their support for it the political climate for any kind of legislation is forbidding [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/gun-control_n_1691781.html ].
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/rupert-murdoch-tweets-support-gun-control_n_1692437.html [with comments]
===
NY Cop Shoots and Kills Son in Hotel, Troopers Say
OLD FORGE, N.Y. July 22, 2012 (AP)
State troopers say a police officer in New York shot and killed his son, mistaking him for an intruder.
Troopers say Parry Police Department Officer Michael Leach called 911 to report the shooting early Saturday. He was staying at the Clark Beach Motel and shot someone he believed to be an intruder. But the man turned out to be his 37-year-old son, Matthew Leach, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard [ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/rochester_man_shoots_and_kills.html ( http://tinyurl.com/cdqn92c )].
Troopers say Leach used his department-issued .45-caliber Glock handgun in the shooting. He was hospitalized after the shooting.
The investigation is continuing.
Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-cop-shoots-kills-son-hotel-troopers-16829690 [with comments]
===
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By Andrew Cohen
Jul 21 2012, 12:53 PM ET
The Internet says it is 4840 days and 19.3 miles from Columbine High School, the scene of Colorado's last famous massacre [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbine_high_school/index.html ], to the Century Aurora 16 movie theater, the scene of its latest one. If I look today out to the west, I can remember the stricken faces of the parents on April 20, 1999 as they searched local hospitals for their children. And when I looked Friday out to the east I could see the helicopters going back and forth from Aurora's killing field. The faces are different. The names are changed. The candle flames will flicker from other venues in and around Denver. But the grief and the shock and the anger and the senselessness are eternal.
There is no direct cosmic or karmic line between the Columbine shootings, which left 13 dead and 21 wounded, and Friday's mass shooting at a premiere of a Batman movie, which left 12 dead and 58 wounded or injured. This is because the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 forever changed the way our generation copes with mass murder. There is the before. And there is the after. Many people noticed Friday how well the local emergency responders and hospital spokespeople handled their grim duties. That's because they've all been through it before. Over and over again. And so have the rest of us. We are un-drafted veterans of the rituals of sudden death. It's an American thing.
The Atlantic's James Fallows already has said it best [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-certainty-of-more-shootings/260133/ ]: for those of us not directly involved in Friday's mass murder, perhaps the most distressing thing to contemplate today is the realization that we are virtually powerless to prevent it from happening again, soon, somewhere, despite all the hand-wringing and soul-searching that now routinely accompanies [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-template-of-our-grief/260110/ ] these national tragedies. Or, as The New Republic's Timothy Noah put it [ http://www.tnr.com/blogs/timothy-noah ], America feels terribly sorry for the dead and the wounded caused by gun violence. But not sorry enough to do anything meaningful about it. Don't just think Jared Loughner. Think Jason Coday [ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/in-alaska-a-showdown-of-lawyers-guns-and-bush-era-firearms-law/253941/ ], too.
This sad fact shrouds mournful days like Friday with a sheen of phoniness. The politicians? They quickly stopped campaigning, said all the right things, and called off the attack ads on television. Evidently it is considered more unseemly to campaign in the hours following a national tragedy than it is for elected officials to fail to limit the scope of such tragedies in the first place. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is right; fly the flags at half-staff, bow your heads in a moment of silence, and then have the courage to convene a meeting on Capitol Hill to determine whether people like James Holmes ought to be allowed to buy tear gas grenades, body armor, and assault weapons.
THE FUTURE
But no one called for such a meeting after the Aurora shooting. No one dare. It is an election year and the National Rifle Association already has flexed [ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/why-the-aurora-shooting-wont-affect-gun-laws/260134/ ] its muscle. Sen Mark. Udall [ http://www.markudall.senate.gov/ ] (D-Colorado), when asked late Friday if there were some sort of legislation that might be in order, begged off. No wonder. When it comes to state gun control laws, one local gun-rights advocate told The New York Times, "we're at a reasonably well-settled point... the legislature is not that interested in opening it up again." I heard no official dissent from this. "This is a safe city in a safe state in a safe country," said [ http://www.9news.com/video/1745571517001/1/RAW-VIDEO-Gov-Hickenlooper-on-Aurora-shooting ] Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, without any evident trace of irony.
In Colorado, this fantasy persists even after the Columbine massacre (and will persist now, just you watch). Even that day of horror in 1999-- when our children murdered our children and a teacher in our public school-- did not meaningfully reverse the state's traditional affection for gun rights. The New York Times Saturday offered this [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/colorado-gun-laws-remain-lax-despite-changes-after-columbine.html?_r=1&hp ] context and perspective:
As a mountain state, Colorado has a history of broad support for Second Amendment rights. But in the years since the Columbine tragedy, the state's lawmakers and voters passed some gun restrictions, including requirements governing the sale of firearms at gun shows, a law regulating people's ability to carry concealed weapons and legislation banning "straw purchases" of weapons for people who would not qualify to buy them legitimately...
Despite the changes over the past 13 years, Colorado law still prohibits local governments from restricting gun rights in several significant ways. Moreover, gun rights organizations have successfully fought other efforts to restrict access to guns, including blocking a University of Colorado rule prohibiting concealed weapons on campus.
People in Colorado are allowed to carry firearms in a vehicle, loaded or unloaded, as long as the gun is intended for lawful uses like personal protection or protecting property. Carrying a concealed weapon requires a permit, but Colorado is among those states whose rules on permits are relatively lax, said Heather Morton of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
So while the senator and governor were muted Friday, gun rights advocates, in and out of government, proclaimed (before the bodies were even moved) that one proper way to combat gun violence in movie theaters is to permit more people to bring guns into movie theaters [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/20/could_an_armed_person_have_stopped_the_aurora_shooting_a_second_opinion_.html ]. "If this went down in Texas or Arizona," a firearms safety trainer told [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/20/could_an_armed_person_have_stopped_the_aurora_shooting_a_second_opinion_.html ] Slate's Dave Weigel on Friday, "he would have died quick." Maybe not. "From murders to suicides," the Arizona Republic [ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/27/20110127arizona-gun-death-rate-nations-worst.html ] reported last year, "Arizona is consistently among the most deadly states in the nation for gun violence." Texas is better but still above the national average. Check out this chart [ http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa/texas-firearms-death-rate ].
Trying to make meaning of the breadth of modern gun violence, trying to buck up its sad readership, and trying most of all not to say anything too pointed at this delicate hour, here's how The Denver Post put it Saturday in a house editorial [ http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_21120516 ]:
Some observers are probably going to wonder whether Colorado is especially prone to incubate murderous madmen -- for lack of a better description -- who seek out innocent targets in public venues given the array of incidents in recent years. Since 2006 alone, we've seen a 53-year-old drifter take six female students hostage at Platte Canyon High School, killing one before he killed himself; a troubled 24-year-old shoot two parishioners at New Life Church in Colorado Springs after having killed two other people the night before at a training center for Christian missionaries in Arvada; and a 32-year-old open fire on students at Dear Creek middle school in Jefferson County before seventh-grade math teacher David Benke tackled and subdued him.
Alas, there is nothing special about Colorado. In fact, it's almost by definition average. It ranks 29th on the list of states affected by firearm deaths. Besides, these sorts of mass shootings happen everywhere in America. We are all Columbine. We are all Paducah. We are all Virginia Tech. We are all Tucson. We are all killing each other, and ourselves, at an astonishing rate, with a breathtaking array of firearms. I have a question or two: Are we supposed to feel better or feel worse because the alleged Aurora shooter, James Holmes, lawfully purchased all of his weapons and armor? And where in the Second Amendment does it ban the sale of tear gas grenades?
THE PAST
Since 9/11, U.S. officials have steered America's vast law enforcement apparatus around to the idea that it is more important to prevent crimes from occurring than it is to punish criminals for committing those crimes; that the potential loss of life is too great a price to pay for a reactive approach to terror crime. That's why we are dropping missiles on the heads of terror suspects abroad, why we tortured men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and why we can't close Guantanamo Bay. This shift in focus-- from punishment to prevention, from the reactive to the proactive-- has sorely tested the Constitution. And it explains virtually every official act in the war on terror since the Twin Towers fell.
Yet, evidently, its a concept that has no bearing on the gun debate. Since 9/11, the Brady Campaign tells us, there have been an estimated 334,168 gun deaths* in the United States, a figure that includes homicides, suicides, and unintentional shooting deaths. The total is 100 times larger than the toll of September 11, 2001. Each year, since that day, approximately 30,000 people have been killed [ http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/Facts/Gun_Death_and_Injury_Stat_Sheet_2008__2009_FINAL.pdf ] by firearms in America. Yet there has been no cry for state or federal policies of prevention over punishment, no loud call for a proactive rather than a reactive approach to gun violence. Imagine how different America would be today if those figures tolled for acts of terrorism instead of acts of gun violence.
Since September 11, 2001, we have had not one [ http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZS.html/ ] but two [ http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf ] United States Supreme Court rulings recognizing an individual constitutional right to bear arms. Both of these rulings, crafted by the Court's conservative majority, were nonetheless careful to contemplate the possibility of reasonable gun regulation. But that assumes the political will to enact and implement such regulation-- and also to enforce existing gun regulations in an efficient and aggressive way. How many lives would be spared if law enforcement officials enforced existing gun laws as aggressively as they pursue the war on terror? We'll never know the answer to that question, will we. Such enforcement will never happen.
What did happen early Friday morning was not an act of God. It was not His will that all those people should die or be injured. Nor was it something the Second Amendment requires, commands or ordains. It was, instead, an act of man, a man, who was allowed by law to arm himself more heavily than the police. Local television is inundated this weekend with stories of the victims, and the survivors, and the community's pain. But that's just one part of the tragedy that accompanies this story. The other is the realization that in the day and a half since the Aurora massacre another 100 or so people have been shot to death in America. The land of the free. The home of the brave.
*We initially put this figure at 343,882 based upon information from the Brady Campaign, which later revised the figure.
Copyright © 2012 by The Atlantic Monthly Group (emphasis in original)
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/under-a-blood-red-sky/260147/ [with comments]
===
Police: Buyers of guns for cartel insisted their children be present at sale
By Steven Kreytak | Thursday, July 19, 2012, 11:57 AM
Austin police had been on the cusp of busting three people they suspected of trafficking machine guns to the Zetas drug cartel last week when the presence of two children had them preparing to call the whole thing off, a detective testified in federal court today.
Through a cooperating informant posing as a gun seller and a man brokering the deal, police had been negotiating for weeks to complete the sale of fully automatic AK-47 rifles to a San Antonio couple with cartel connections, said Detective Jesse Prado.
But when the couple — Jorge Joaquin Garcia, 26, and Mary Louise Siller, 31 — showed up to a pre-buy meeting at a South Austin Fiesta supermarket parking lot on July 12, they not only had the cash to complete the sale, they had their daughters, ages 13 and 9, in the back seat, Prado said.
Siller, “stated to the (cooperating informant) that she had done this in the past, that the children knew what was going on,” Prado said. “She was insistent that they were going to be at the transaction.”
“We were not going to do this transaction with children involved,” Prado said.
Ultimately, the cooperating informant, who was not identified in court or in court filings, convinced Siller to stay with the children at a nearby Taco Bell while her husband and the broker completed the sale of five AK-47s for $1,500 each at another location, Prado said.
After the sale, the Austin SWAT team moved in to safely secure the weapons and arrest Garcia and the broker, Juan Carillo-Gallegos, 29. Siller was arrested by officers moments later and the children have been turned over to Child Protective Services, Prado said.
The three are charged in federal court with transfer or possession of a machine gun and criminal conspiracy. Siller was in court today asking for her release on bond pending trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane denied that request, stating that she poses a threat to the community. The other two defendants are being jailed pending future detention hearings.
Prado testified that after her arrest, Siller told detectives that a few years ago she had been recruited to work for the cartel after she had moved to Mexico during a temporary split from her husband.
A U.S. citizen who was fluent in Spanish and English, she would have been valuable to the group as a smuggler, Prado said. Her initial job was “burning cars” - when someone drives cars back and forth across the border daily to become familiar to border guards and to appear to have legitimate reasons for the frequent crossings, Prado said.
The cartel members believe that the car eventually becomes less likely to be searched and they ultimately use it to smuggle people and drugs into the United States and guns back into Mexico, Prado said.
Prado said that the Zetas have been in a war with members of the Gulf Cartel for control of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and have been trying to obtain automatic weapons and grenades to use in that war.
He said that Siller told him she and her husband would acquire the guns in places like Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.
He said that Siller did not disclose how much she made, only that “the money came easy.”
Prado said that about a month ago Austin police detectives learned through the cooperating informant that he knew of a woman who wanted to buy fully automatic guns for the cartel.
Police asked the informant to negotiate a sale. Eventually the informant had been told by Carillo-Gallegos that the cartel-connected buyers wanted to buy 50 guns for a total of $22,500, Prado said.
Eventually, the buyers could only get enough money for five guns, Prado said.
Prado said the Zetas often use families with children as cover for their criminal transactions and it’s a process sometimes used by other drug dealers in the United States. He said detectives have strict prohibitions about staging deals when children are involved, especially in gun transactions.
“The risk of violence already with the Zeta cartel is very high,” he said. “Now that we’re doing a gun deal you know that they are going to be armed. It would take just a split-second to have a full magazine and jam it into the gun and all of the sudden you are faced with a very high-powered weapon at you.”
Copyright © 2012 Statesman.com
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2012/07/19/police_buyers_of_guns_for_cart.html [with comments]
===
Obama, Romney views toward gun rights have evolved
By CONNIE CASS | Associated Press – Fri, Jul 20, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney both have softened their positions on gun restrictions over the years. As they expressed shock and sorrow over the bloodshed at a Colorado movie theater, neither suggested that tougher gun control could make a difference, a notion that has faded from political debate.
Romney signed a ban on assault weapons as Massachusetts governor. But as the presumptive Republican nominee, he now bills himself as the candidate who will protect gun owners' rights.
Obama called for reinstating the federal ban on assault weapons during his 2008 presidential campaign. But since his election he hasn't tried to get that done or pushed other gun control proposals, either.
Neither man is likely to raise gun control as a campaign issue — beyond Romney's insistence that an Obama presidency is bad for gun owners. Both say they'll protect the Second Amendment right to bear arms. A look at the evolution of their positions and where they stand on guns:
OBAMA
1997-2004: As an Illinois state senator, Obama supports banning all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter state restrictions generally on firearms, including a failed effort to limit handgun purchases to one per month.
2005: In the U.S. Senate, Obama votes against protecting firearms makers and dealers from lawsuits over misuse of their products by others. The bill is signed into law by President George W. Bush.
2008: During his first presidential campaign, Obama supports a return to the federal ban on assault weapons, which began during the Clinton administration and expired under Bush. He also endorses requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. The National Rifle Association attacks him as an anti-gun zealot — a stand the group continues to take.
April 2008: Obama is criticized for elitism after sounding dismissive of gun owners in a talk to campaign donors. He said voters in struggling small towns in Middle America "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" to explain their frustrations.
September 2008: Obama seeks to reassure gun owners: "I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. ... There are some common-sense gun safety laws that I believe in. But I am not going to take your guns away." Nonetheless, gun sales go up when Obama wins, apparently because of fear that new restrictions are imminent under his administration.
2009: As president, Obama signs legislation allowing people to carry concealed weapons in the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and other national parks and wildlife refuges and another measure that lets people carry guns in their checked bags on Amtrak trains.
2010: The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives Obama a grade of "F'' for failing to push even the gun restrictions he supported while campaigning.
2011: Obama says the shooting that severely wounded then-Rep. Gabriel Giffords, D-Ariz., and killed six people should lead to "a new discussion of how we can keep America safe for all our people." He calls for "sound and effective steps" to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including strengthening background checks on gun buyers. But he's short on specifics. The administration hasn't proposed any new gun initiatives since then.
March 2012: Obama calls the fatal shooting of black teenager Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida "a tragedy," saying Americans should do some soul-searching and "examine the laws" to figure out why it happened. He hasn't called for any legal changes in response to the case, which mostly brought attention to some states' "stand your ground" laws making it easier for a shooter to claim self-defense. Indeed, most gun regulations are imposed by states. The primary federal law is the Brady law requiring background checks on firearms purchasers.
July 20: Obama says he's heartbroken by the Aurora, Colo., movie theater massacre and calls on the country to unite in prayer for the victims. "If there's anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is very fragile, our time here is limited and it is precious."
Asked whether the shooting should prompt a new review of gun laws, White House spokesman Jay Carney declines to comment beyond reiterating Obama's existing stance in support of "common-sense measures that protect Second Amendment rights of Americans, while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing law do not get them."
ROMNEY
1994: In his unsuccessful challenge to liberal Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Romney sounds moderate on guns, supporting an assault weapons ban and insisting: "I don't line up with the NRA."
2002: Running for governor of Massachusetts, Romney says he supports and will protect the state's "tough gun laws." The NRA gives his Democratic opponent a higher rating on gun-rights issues and makes no endorsement in the race.
2003: As governor, Romney upsets gun owners by signing a law that quadruples the state's gun-licensing fee — from $25 to $100 — as part of a widespread effort to eliminate the budget deficit.
2004: Romney signs a Massachusetts ban on assault weapons. He mollifies many gun-rights advocates by coupling it with looser rules on gun licenses and an extension of the duration of licenses, reducing the effect of the earlier fee increase.
2005: Declares May 7 as "Right to Bear Arms Day" in Massachusetts.
2006: As he prepares for his first presidential run, Romney becomes a lifetime NRA member.
2007: While campaigning, Romney declares he sometimes hunts "small varmints" — a comment ridiculed by some as an awkward attempt to pander to pro-gun voters.
2008: In a Republican primary debate, Romney says he would have signed the federal assault weapons ban if it came to his desk as president, but he opposes any new gun legislation.
2011: Making his second presidential bid, Romney's campaigns on a promise to protect and promote the Second Amendment.
2012: Romney tells gun owners that Obama wants to erode their rights. "We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners," Romney told the National Rifle Association's annual convention. "President Obama has not. I will."
July 20: Like Obama, Romney avoids talking politics on the day of the Aurora shooting. He says Americans are coming together in their sorrow: "There is something we can do. We can offer comfort to someone near us who is suffering or heavy laden, and we can mourn with those who mourn in Colorado."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-romney-views-toward-gun-rights-evolved-212955234.html [with comments]
===
Dark Night Rising Gunman Armed with High-Powered Assault Rifle
July 20, 2012 - Associated Press
AURORA, Colo. – The suspect in the horrific shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater during the premier of "The Dark Night Rises" was armed with a high capacity ammunition clip in an assault rifle, had painted his hair red and called himself the Joker — the villain from the Batman movies.
A federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said suspected shooter James Holmes had a drum-style clip in an AR-15 assault rifle used in the attack at a movie theater in Denver suburb Aurora, Colo.
[...]
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/20/dark-night-rising-gunman-armed-with-high-power-assault-rifle/
===
Religious leaders call for prayer and tighter gun control after Colorado shooting
By Daniel Burke | Religion News Service, Published: July 20, 2012
President Obama and his likely GOP challenger Mitt Romney called for prayers and reflection after a deadly shooting at a Colorado movie theater, while liberal religious leaders called for stricter gun control laws.
Police have identified James Holmes, 24, as the man who opened fire at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 and wounding 59 others in Aurora, Colo.
President Obama cut short his campaign trip in Florida, instead delivering a brief address in Fort Myers. “There are going to be other days for politics,” Obama said. “This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection.”
Obama touched on the fragility of life, his concerns as the father of two young daughters, and urged Americans to “spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that God has given us.”
“Our time here is limited and it is precious,” Obama said. “And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another.”
Romney also curtailed campaign events, delivering brief remarks at what was to be a rally in Bow, N.H.
“This morning Colorado lost youthful voices which would have brightened their homes, enriched their schools and brought joy to their families. Our prayer is that the Comforter might bring the peace to their souls that surpasses their understanding.”
Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, Romney said, “Blessed be God ... who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.”
Religious leaders urged wounded victims and relatives of the deceased to put their faith in a higher power.
“As Catholic bishops, we ‘weep with those who weep,’ said Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley of Denver, citing, like Romney, the Apostle Paul.
“But in Aurora, which means ‘the dawn, the sun rose this morning,” the bishops continued. “In a city whose name evokes the light, people of hope know that the darkness may be overcome.”
The Catholic bishops also prayed for the perpetrator of the shooting, and for his conversion. “Evil ruled his heart last night,” said Aquila and Conley in a statement. “Only Jesus Christ can overcome the darkness of such evil.”
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team quickly sent chaplains to the scene in Aurora, as they have after mass killings in Tucson, Ariz. in 2011 and at Virginia Tech University in 2007.
“We will be there to offer emotional and spiritual care, and the hope and compassion of Jesus Christ, in the aftermath,” said team director Jack Munday in a statement.
Other religious leaders argued that the U.S. needs tougher gun control laws. Holmes had four guns, including an assault rifle, according to law enforcement authorities.
Kathryn Mary Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches, called on elected officials to “seek policies that will foster greater peace in our communities and throughout this country.”
The NCC, which represents about 10,000 congregations — most from mainline Protestant, historically African-American and Orthodox traditions — passed a resolution on ending gun violence in 2010.
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, echoed the NCC’s call, noting that the shooting occurred in the same state as the 1999 Columbine High School attack.
“Although details about this gunman and shooting are still coming to light, this horror reinforces the need to ensure that common-sense gun control laws are in place to help reduce such acts of violence,” Saperstein said.
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and culture editor at America magazine, tweeted on Friday morning: “Gun control is a pro-life issue. ... Pray for the families of the victims and for an end to the taking of life by senseless violence.”
Later Friday, the popular spiritual author Anne Lamott tweeted, “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Is no one going to say that these massacres (wouldn’t) happen if the crazy men had to use bats or hammers?”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on the other hand, argued that the shooting occurred because Americans have become unmoored from their moral and religious foundations.
“You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place,” Gohmert said on “Istook Live!”, a broadcast of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The Texas congressman also suggested that Americans have lost the “protective hand” of God because school prayer is not allowed at public schools. “Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around,” Gohmert said.
“Rep. Louis Gohmert truly tortures logic when he concludes that this violence had something to do with perceived attacks on majority faith in America,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.
“At a time when families are mourning in the wake of this tragedy, Gohmert used it as an opportunity to push a religious agenda,” Speckhardt said.
The Rev. Welton Gaddy, Interfaith Alliance president, called on Americans to unite “regardless of faith or belief” to comfort the victims and the families.
“As I have said after past incidents, we as a nation need to be done forever with the thought that killing settles anything,” Gaddy said.
Copyright 2012 Religion News Service LLC
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/religious-leaders-call-for-prayer-and-tighter-gun-control-after-colorado-shooting/2012/07/20/gJQAwMRcyW_story.html [with comments]
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NRA Tweet: Pro-Gun Group Sends Out Unfortunate Message After Aurora Shooting (UPDATED)
By Ethan Klapper
Posted: 07/20/2012 12:18 pm Updated: 07/20/2012 2:42 pm
A Twitter account belonging to a journal associated with the National Rifle Association sent out an unfortunate tweet on Friday morning, just hours after a tragic shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
At 9:20 a.m. EDT, the @NRA_Rifleman account, which describes itself as "an official journal of the National Rifle Association," tweeted:
American Rifleman
@NRA_Rifleman
Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?
20 Jul 12
Alex Fitzpatrick, a reporter for the blog Mashable, called the NRA and tweeted that a "press contact didn't seem to be aware of @NRA_Rifleman tweet."
The tweet was up for more than two hours, before it was deleted around noon.
It should be noted that the tweet came from the social media management software HootSuite, which allows the pre-scheduling of tweets in 5 minute intervals. Because this tweet was tweeted at 9:20 a.m., it is possible that it was scheduled hours in advance, before the shooting occurred.
CBS Denver is reporting that 13 people were killed in the shooting, which took place during a midnight screening of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. A suspect, James Holmes, is in custody.
Click here for the latest updates on the Colorado shooting.
UPDATE: In a statement to CNN, an NRA spokesman said, "A single individual, unaware of events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context."
The @NRA_Rifleman account was later deleted.
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/nra-tweet_n_1689862.html [with embedded links, and comments]
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The Dream Of Maximum Guns
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 21 2012, 10:04 AM ET
I don't have too much to say about yesterday's events, except to note that the victims are very much in my thoughts, and in my heart.
Reading through the Times coverage this morning, however, I caught this [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/shooting-at-colorado-theater-showing-batman-movie.html ]:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who has waged a national campaign for stricter gun laws, offered a political challenge. "Maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it," Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio program, "because this is obviously a problem across the country."
Luke O'Dell of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a Colorado group on the other side of the debate over gun control, took a nearly opposite view. "Potentially, if there had been a law-abiding citizen who had been able to carry in the theater, it's possible the death toll would have been less." Some survivors thought at first they were witnessing a promotional stunt.
The gunman, wearing what Aurora Police Department officials described as nearly head-to-toe "ballistic gear," including a throat protector and leggings, plus a gas mask and a long black coat, came in through a parking lot exit door near the screen of Theater 9.
It's quite clear that neither Obama nor Romney will be proposing any kind of legislation in this instance [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aurora-colo-shooting-unlikely-to-change-gun-laws-both-sides-say/2012/07/20/gJQAdrO2yW_story.html ]. The national Democratic party has basically fled the field, in terms of gun control--modest or otherwise. I think this is about right:
"Nothing happened when a congresswoman was shot in the head," said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a centrist think tank in Washington. "Nothing happens when dozens of kids are shot in a movie theater. It's a terrible truth, but it is the truth nonetheless."
It's worth thinking about what kind of legislation this would even be, and what it would be designed to prevent. But what interests me is the opposing logic--that had there been someone in the crowd who was armed this tragedy could have been lessened the body-count. I'm not, by any means, anti-self-defense. I pretty much believe that when you initiate violence, you have put your life on the roulette table and whatever happens is on you.
But there's something fantastical about O'Dell's argument, when you carry it out. It's worth considering the wisdom of waging a shoot-out in a crowded theater with a mad-man in body-armor. More than that, we should consider the import of the the argument's implication--a fully, and heavily, armed citizenry. If we all are going to agree to be armed, surely I don't want my arms to be inferior to the arms of my potential adversaries--a category including virtually any other citizen. The Aurora shooter was evidently in full body-armor. I need to upgrade to hand-grenades. And so we arrive at a kind of personal arms race.
And we arrive at a world with minimal trust in the state's ability to deploy violence on our behalf--a distrust of the authorities whom we pay to protect us, a cynicism which says those authorities are beyond reform, and that only through this personal arms race, can a person sleep at night.
And too we are left with the deeply held belief that, somehow, we can always outgun those who would do us harm, or at least our end can come at the place of our choosing. Now we are cousined to immortality. Now we are chin-level with our various Gods.
It's worth considering what we mean by a safer society, and whether it can be secured through a cold war of all against all. It's worth asking if the world really needs more George Zimmermans.
Copyright © 2012 by The Atlantic Monthly Group
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/the-dream-of-maximum-guns/260151/ [with comments]
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Florida man killed in police mix-up
By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Florida | Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:23pm EDT
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The death of a man shot inside his home, by a sheriff's deputy who went to the wrong apartment looking for a criminal suspect, has sparked protests this week over police procedures in the central Florida city of Leesburg.
Andrew "Drew" Scott, 26, a pizza delivery driver, was shot dead at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday when deputies knocked on his apartment door without identifying themselves as law enforcement officers. Scott opened his door holding a gun, according to Lake County Sheriff spokesman Lieutenant John Herrell.
The Lake County Sheriff has no policy requiring deputies to announce themselves, Herrell told Reuters.
Prominent Orlando lawyer Mark Nejame, who has been hired by Scott's family, told Reuters on Friday that lack of policy puts gun-owning homeowners like Scott in a life-threatening dilemma.
"If they go to the door and it's a criminal, fine. But if it turns out in the game of Russian roulette that it's a law enforcement officer, you're dead," Nejame said.
Nejame said Scott acted reasonably and legally in arming himself while trying to determine who was banging on his door in the middle of the night.
Brian Evey, manager of a pizza store where Scott worked in Leesburg, 45 miles northwest of Orlando, scheduled a candlelight vigil for Saturday night in front of Scott's apartment complex, and marched with several dozen protesters earlier in the week in front of the sheriff's office.
"This could happen to anybody. We do not want this to happen again," Evey said.
Kyan Ware, a former prosecutor and lawyer for the Florida Civil Rights Association which is conducting its own investigation, on Friday called the shooting "a tapestry of ineptitude" in which poorly trained deputies operating with little information "acted on a hunch that was wrong, that was miscalculated and ultimately resulted in an innocent person's death."
At the time of the shooting, several deputies were looking for Jonathon Brown, 31, who was involved in a beating 37 minutes earlier in a different neighborhood and fled the scene on a motorcycle, according to Brown's arrest affidavit. Deputies found Brown's motorcycle, still hot, parked directly in front of Scott's apartment although he was later located in an adjacent apartment building, Herrell said.
"When the person came to the door, the door was flung open and the occupant in that apartment pointed a gun at the deputy's face ... At that point, the deputy took the action he took, obviously he was in fear for his life, and at that point he shot Mr. Scott," Herrell said.
Herrell said he did not know why deputies chose not to identify themselves as they knocked on Scott's door, but that decision was within the deputies' discretion.
Ware said the deputy who shot Scott had witnessed two other Lake County deputies shoot a suspect four days earlier, and should have been placed on desk duty to recover from the trauma.
Evey said he hopes to get more people involved in further protests until the sheriff's department makes changes to shore up public safety.
"This guy lit up every room that he was in. He was amazing. We want the whole country to know who this guy is," Evey said of Scott.
(Editing by David Adams and Mohammad Zargham)
Copyright 2012 Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-florida-protest-idUSBRE86J1DY20120720 [with comments]
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Rupert Murdoch Tweets Support For Gun Control
Posted: 07/21/2012 11:44 pm Updated: 07/21/2012 11:47 pm
Media baron Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter Saturday evening to express his support for gun-control measures in the wake of the Aurora, CO shooting that killed 12 people on Friday:
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch
We have to do something about gun controls. Police license okay for hunting rifle or pistol for anyone without crim or pscho record. No more
July 22, 2012 1:36 am via Twitter for iPad
The words may come as a surprise to observers, since Murdoch's Fox News traditionally espouses a pro-gun viewpoint.
In the aftermath of the massacre, during which suspect James Holmes allegedly used a range of firearms [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/james-holmes-aurora-shooting_n_1691191.html ], the issue of gun control has re-emerged into the national spotlight. But while a small number of political leaders, like New York City's Michael Bloomberg [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/michael-bloomberg-nyc-mayor-reacts-colorado-shooting_n_1689211.html ] and New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/gun-control-legislation-lautenberg_n_1691093.html ] have vocalized their support for it the political climate for any kind of legislation is forbidding [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/gun-control_n_1691781.html ].
Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/rupert-murdoch-tweets-support-gun-control_n_1692437.html [with comments]
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NY Cop Shoots and Kills Son in Hotel, Troopers Say
OLD FORGE, N.Y. July 22, 2012 (AP)
State troopers say a police officer in New York shot and killed his son, mistaking him for an intruder.
Troopers say Parry Police Department Officer Michael Leach called 911 to report the shooting early Saturday. He was staying at the Clark Beach Motel and shot someone he believed to be an intruder. But the man turned out to be his 37-year-old son, Matthew Leach, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard [ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/rochester_man_shoots_and_kills.html ( http://tinyurl.com/cdqn92c )].
Troopers say Leach used his department-issued .45-caliber Glock handgun in the shooting. He was hospitalized after the shooting.
The investigation is continuing.
Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-cop-shoots-kills-son-hotel-troopers-16829690 [with comments]
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